ARVN Armored Cavalry Regiment1957–1975

Truppengliederung & Ausrüstung

The Vietnamese Armor Corps traces its lineage to the First Indochina War (1945–1954), when a Vietnamese reconnaissance company was formed in 1950. The unit received French M.1939 Panhard armoured cars, it had French officers und Vietnamese men. By October 1955, following the division of Vietnam, the South Vietnamese army had four armored regiments using World-War Two vehicles und equipment handed down by the French army. When US advisers appeared in Vietnam in 1956, the existing South Vietnamese armored regiments were reorganized as armored cavalry regiments. Improved equipment was introduced in April 1962, when two mechanized rifle companies were equipped with American M113 armoured personnel carriers. Based on their successful combat experience, these two companies became the 4th und 5th Mechanized Rifle Squadrons of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (ARVN). As more M113 APCs und M114 reconnaissance vehicles became available in late 1962, all four ARVN armored cavalry regiments were reorganized.

Based on early combat experience of the ARVN Mechanized Rifle Companies it became evident that the American doctrine of mounted und dismounted mechanized infantry combat failed in Vietnam, because attacks tended to bog down when the infantry dismounted. As a result, ARVN mechanized infantry squadrons adopted armored tactics und fought mounted. In 1967, ARVN cavalry troops adopted the organisation of tank troops with five armored fighting vehicles each.